


Limbo

by luxuriousvoyage11



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 01:56:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19416094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxuriousvoyage11/pseuds/luxuriousvoyage11
Summary: A conversation about regret and college years has Mike questioning his relationship.





	Limbo

There's something to be said about how severely a couple's marriage can affect their children. It's not guaranteed that watching your parent's happy marriage will carry over into your own relationship but those odds seem better than watching your parents deteriorate and hate each other. Or at least that's how Mike Wheeler is thinking.

He's been watching Karen and Ted fight for most of his youth, the quiet tension and whisper-yelled fights after bedtime an indication, even when he was in elementary school, that something was awry. But now he's a senior at Hawkins high school, in a steady, loving relationship of his own and it's hard not to take notice to the declining relationship between his parents.

With Holly on a sleep-away field trip and Nancy attending college in Chicago, it's only the middle Wheeler child sneaking in after a Friday night with his friends in the cool spring air. He's surprised when he doesn't see his dad sleeping on the recliner, a place he resides more often than not, but he's even more surprised to see that his mom is still up at one o'clock at night, crying into the cordless phone.

"It was just such a mistake, mom," Karen continues, her voice watery "sometimes I think about how I could've gone to college and gotten a career like Susan but no, I was a fool and married him and now I'm stuck. I'm so glad Nancy isn't following in my footsteps.....such formative years shouldn't be spend with a stupid man...."

He eavesdrops on his mother's monologue for a few moments before he feels like an intrusive creep and scurries up the stairs, shaking the last part out of it head - if only it were that easy.

The conversation haunts him all night, tossing and turning and mulling over the thought that that could be El in ten, twenty years; feeling regret for not having given all into her studies because of their intense relationship. What if after he proposes and it's time for the wedding, El decides to go to graduate school? What if when they want to start a family, El gets a fantastic job opportunity? Or, better yet, what if having a family isn't something his metaphorical wife-El wants once she pursues her career?

His mind doesn't stop until almost 4 a.m., the birds reminding him he has to be up in less than six hours for his shift at the local Radio Shack followed by a pool party at the Byers. He falls into a worried slumber, his mind concocting a crying El hunched over a dining room table in his dreams.

_"_ _You were right," El says into the phone, "young love so rarely works out. We should've kept our relationship in Hawkins high school."_

~

El opens the door to Radio Shack at 4 p.m., Mike's swimming trunks in hand and a smile on her face. It's a beautiful day in June, graduation around the corner and the Byers pre-graduation party hours away.

She's blocked by the first aisle of the store, the check out counter on an awkward angle but she's still able to see her boyfriend ring up an elderly man and assure him VHS tapes will indeed be able to record all of his episodes of Happy Days.

She hadn't spoken to her boyfriend since they departed with a lingering kiss the night before and she sees an obvious difference in his smile. The second the old man turns to leave, the tense smile drops from his freckled face and she watches as Mike puts both elbows on the counter. His hands scrunch his face as he squeezes the bridge of his nose before rubbing his forehead and down his cheeks in an act of stress; she also notes the slight bags under his eyes.

As if she wasn't observing him for the past 20 seconds, she barrels out of the aisle and approaches the counter.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite Radio Shack worker," she quips with a sarcastic smile, throwing down his bathing suit and her car key on the counter.

He gives her a small smirk, looking down to observe what was so harshly placed on the counter until his face brightness in realization.

"Oh shit, thanks, I totally forgot," he mumbles, knowing he's being shy and weird and that his ever observant girlfriend is gonna catch on.

"How's your day been?" he asks with a bright smile, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

El fills him in on her day and shares the same excitement about the pool party she has over the last few weeks; but does he have the heart to say a word about it?

Absolutely not.

He could listen to her excitedly talk about the same thing over and over again and he wouldn't have one complaint about it.

"And of course we're obviously gonna have a-"

"Cannon ball contest? Limbo content? Hula dancing contest?"

Her open mouth closes in a straight line, guilty eyes looking upwards before a smile reaches her lips. "So you really do listen when I talk."

Before he can retort back, a middle-aged woman Helen comes in for the next shift waving at the couple before heading into the backroom to change into her uniform.

"Yay! It's time to go, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Aloha!" El chants, grabbing her key and laughing boyfriends hand.

She puts his odd behavior from earlier in the back of her mind, chopping it up to dealing with the complaints of confused people all day.

~

The pool party is in full swing by 9 p.m., twenty five 17 and 18-year-olds dancing, laughing and splashing in the Byers backyard. True to her planning, Mike watches El limboing her elbows shimming side to side as she just barely misses the pole.

"Aloha!" she screams afterward, causing everyone around to laugh at how that in no way shape or form serves as a celebratory word; but it's just so endearingly cute.

Even in this fun atmosphere, however, mopey Mike Wheeler can't help but think back to his mother's phone conversation last night.

He's reminded of it every time he looks at El and feels his heart swell from the sheer and almost overwhelming love he feels for her. And when you love someone, you want what's best for them right? She'd have objections at first, he's sure, because she really _does_ love him, that he doesn't question.

But is she blinded by that?

Does she not see how truly dire it is to learn how to be alone, especially during your late teens and early 20s? How a focus on finding herself and furthering her education is a big part of the upcoming stage in their lives?

His headache from earlier is coming back with a vengeance and he huffs before getting up and quickly making his way into the house, hoping to go unnoticed for just a few moments in Will's room alone.

And he gets that....for all of two minutes before his girlfriend's head pops in.

"What are you doing in here?" she asks loudly, "are you not having fun?"

Mike's sitting on the edge of Will's bed facing the window, his back towards the door.

He feels her come up behind him, her arms circling around his shoulders and her chin resting on the space between her arm. He feels her breath on the side of his neck and he's secretly trying to match it.

He's making himself so overwhelmed, he's pretty sure he's on the verge of an anxiety attack.

"Mike?"

El's voice is soft and serious now and she removes herself from him to sit next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he answers too quickly and he wants to die for acting like this, right here, right now at a party she hasn't been able to stop talking about for days. 

She stays quiet because she knows he's lying and hopes that he'll retract his statement in a few moments.

There's screams and laughs from outside, a complete contrast to the dead silence and atmosphere in Will's room that's suddenly unbearably tense.

"I noticed you being weird before at work," she mentions after a few seconds, "what happened? You were fine last night."

"Nothing, El," he says, his voice weakening, his stomach in knots, "please go out the party, love, you've been waiting forever. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Can you please just tell me, Mike? Now, I won't have fun unless you're with me," she says quietly, using her cute voice only reserved for Mike.

And oddly enough, that exact pitch and tone of her voice breaks him. His head falls into his hands as he feels hot tears pool behind his eyes. "Fuck," he mumbles.

He feels her small hand come to his chin and lift, her brown eyes wide and full of concern.

And once they making eye contact, he blurts out, "I think we should break up."

Her face falls as her eyes grow wider and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. There's a few beats of silence before she bluntly utters, "what?"

"Don't make me say it again, El, please," he mutters, his knee bouncing up and down frantically.

"Why are you even saying that then?' she asks, her voice raising a bit but still at a low volume.

"Because...I think it'll be best."

"Best for what exactly?" she snaps.

"For us," he relies shakily.

She shakes her head furiously, pulling away from him and standing up. His tense body becomes even more rigid, watching her walk towards the window and watch the people outside laugh and play Limbo.

_I'm such a fucking asshole. All she wanted was to play fucking Limbo._

"I'm gonna ask you this one time and don't you dare lie to me," she says, her voice strong and clear, "why do wanna break up?" She then turns to him, no detectable emotion on her face. "If it's because you don't love me anymore, fine, if it's because you found someone else, fine, but if-"

"Jesus El," he blurts out, "of course not!"

"Then what!" she screeches, "what possible reason could you have for breaking up with me?"

He rakes his hands through his hair, his fingers threatening to pull it out strand by stands.

"College," he bluntly says, "for you. Well, for both of us. But mainly you. I don't know... I don't want you to feel....tied down to me and this relationship. I want you to really discover who you are and get an education and just....do all the shit you're supposed to do when you're out of high school. And I just feel like....if you're with me, I'll...I don't know, that you'll regret it when you're older or feel like you missed out ."

El stares at him wide eyed before a laugh bubbles out of her. It's not her cute giggle or bubbly laugh but more of a scary laugh, one of utter disbelief.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

His eyebrows shoot up at the vulgarity.

"I think I would've preferred you tell me you don't love me anymore than hit me with that utter bullshit!" she hisses, shaking her head in disbelief. He's about to retort when she holds up her hand.

"No! It's not for YOU to decide what I do or focus on, Mike. If you feel like you want to find yourself and focus on college without me, then fine. But don't put this shit on me. I....I would've never thought to end things for that reason."

He mulls over her response, his knee still bouncing up and down. He doesn't really know what to say now and it's evident to El.

"How could you seriously think I'd ever wanna do that?"

"Because, El! You've only been with me, you've never learned how to be alone and this is supposedly when people do that. Casual fun dating and school and working, not being tied down with your high school boyfriend, the only boyfriend you've ever had."

He looks up after his mini rant to see El's face somehow ghost white and burning red at the same time, her watery eyes squinted in anger.

"I've never learned how to be alone? Really? Or have you forgotten that I was ripped from my mother and quarantined for the first 12 years of my life?"

His eyes meets her and he knows now how severely he fucked up.

"Sometimes, Mike, I swear you're just so wrapped up in seeing the shit going on around you that you just....self-destruct and completely forget about what WE, us two, are like together. And what we've been through not only as people but together."

Her composure is breaking as a tear escaped down her cheek.

"I know what it's like to be alone and while I'm capable of doing it, I fucking hate it ever since I met you and Dustin and Lucas and Max and literally everyone outside right now," she says, Hopper and Joyce's laughs ringing through the yard. 

"I love you. There will never be a time where I don't love you or regret being with you and if you wanna break up for your own college experience and self-finding journey, okay, but please," she says, "don't try and make decisions on what's best for me. Because apparently, you don't even know."

She wipes her face in the mirror, fixes her long brown hair and brushes past him. He just stands in there in shock for a few moments, unsure how to process that he was stupid enough to blurt out his irrational thoughts and her reaction.

He's looking out the window when he sees El back outside, but this time, sitting down watching the guests restart the Limbo game to the very top.

A few moments later, Mike returns to the backyard and takes the empty chair next to El. Her legs are crossed and she's watching the party, trying not to side-eyed the boy next to her.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, "I'm so fucking sorry, I...I don't know-"

She rests her head on his shoulder and he stops speaking immediately, scared that she'll change her mind and instead, push him off the chair with her mind.

"You really don't know, do you," she mumbles quietly, leaving the two teens watching over the party in silence, the same thought plaguing both of their minds: _now what?_


End file.
